The methods and formulations employed in ink jet imaging processes involve the application of liquid ink droplets in a pixel-by-pixel manner to an ink-receiving element. There are numerous schemes which may be utilized to control the deposition of ink droplets on the image-recording element to yield the desired image. In one process, known as continuous ink jet, a continuous stream of droplets is charged and deflected in an imagewise manner onto the surface of the image-recording element, while unimaged droplets are caught and returned to the ink sump. In another process, known as drop-on-demand ink jet, individual ink droplets are projected as needed onto the image-recording element to form the desired image. Common methods of controlling the projection of ink droplets in drop-on-demand printing include piezoelectric transducers and thermal bubble formation.
The inks used in the various ink jet printers can be classified as either dye-based or pigment-based. A dye is a colorant which is molecularly dispersed or solvated by the carrier medium. The carrier medium can be a liquid or a solid at room temperature. A commonly used carrier medium is water or a mixture of water and organic cosolvents. Each individual dye molecule is surrounded by molecules of the carrier medium. In dye-based inks, no particles are observable under the microscope. Although there have been many recent advances in the art of dye-based ink jet inks, such inks still suffer from deficiencies such as low optical densities on plain paper and poor lightfastness. When water is used as the carrier medium, such inks also generally suffer from poor waterfastness.
Pigment-based inks have been gaining in popularity as a means of addressing these limitations. In pigment-based inks, the colorant exists as discrete particles. These pigment particles are usually treated with addenda known as dispersants or stabilizers which serve to keep the pigment particles from agglomerating and/or settling out. Pigment-based inks suffer from a different set of deficiencies than dye-based inks. One deficiency is related to the observation that pigment-based inks interact differently with specially coated papers and films, such as the transparent films used for overhead projection and the glossy papers and opaque white films used for high quality graphics and pictorial output. In particular, it has been observed that pigment-based inks produce imaged areas that are entirely on the surface of coated papers and films. This results in images which have poor dry and wet adhesion properties, resulting in images which can be easily smudged.
Commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No.08/847,858, filed Apr. 28, 1997, entitled "Pigmented Ink Jet Inks Containing Aldehydes" of Martin et al., and U.S. patent application Ser. No.08/896,520 filed Apr. 28, 1997, entitled "Pigmented Ink Jet Inks Containing Olefins" of Martin et al., disclose ink jet ink formulations containing compounds with aldehyde, blocked aldehyde and active olefinic functional groups. These references specify use of the inks on gelatin receivers. Further, they do not teach the use of a solution that is separate and distinct from the ink.
What is needed in the art is a method or formulation that will enable pigmented ink jet ink imaging to overcome the problems mentioned above when images are printed on acetoacetylated poly(vinylalcohol) (PVA) receivers. It has been unexpectedly found that when hardeners are used in conjunction with an ink-receiving layer comprised of acetoacetylated poly(vinylalcohol), superior wet abrasion resistance is obtained versus ink-receiving layer which are comprised of gelatin. This process also offers an advantage over incorporating the additives into inks since the additive can be applied in both imaged and non-imaged areas, and the laydown can be precisely controlled independently of ink laydown.